Kursöversikt

Course-PM

CIU187 / TIA109 Information visualization VT19 (7,5hp)

Revised December 20th, 2018

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Updates

January 9th, notes and links added to non-mandatory course literature below.

Further updates will be posted as Announcements.

Course purpose

In this course we will study the science, craft and art of visualizing information. A basic premise in this endeavor is that visualization is an extension of our minds into the world and a powerful cognitive tool to both perceive and communicate information. It extends our senses and provides new ways to express our ideas, facilitating both exploration of the world (and data representing the world) and sharing of information and understanding. As such, an understanding of human perception as well as the technological means for creating visualizations provides the basis for knowledgeable work with information visualization.

 

Course start

The course starts 10:15 Tuesday January 22nd, in Visual Arena, Lindholmen Science Park.

 

Schedule

Schedule in TimeEdit (Länkar till en externa sida.)Länkar till en externa sida..

Schedule visualization (Länkar till en externa sida.)Länkar till en externa sida..

 

Contact details

Teachers

Daniel Sjölie <daniel.sjolie@cse.gu.se> will do the lecturing and be responsible for all scheduled events.

Khanh Duy Le <khanh-duy.le@chalmers.se> will help out primarily with tutoring and feedback.

Course responsible and Examiner

Daniel Sjölie, daniel.sjolie@cse.gu.se

Student representatives

TBA

 

Course communication

All course participants should receive an invitation to a Slack workspace called SynchronizedReality. The best way to ask quick questions relating to this course is to use this Slack, and the channel course_infovis_2019 on there. Please send Daniel Sjölie an email (see above) if you have not received an invitation to Slack or if you have trouble accessing it.

 

Course literature

Mandatory reading (for exam).

  1. Ware, C. (2012). Information Visualization: perception for design.
    1. Should be available as e-book via Chalmers Library.
    2. Which chapters to focus on.
  2. Segel and Heer. (2010). Narrative Visualization: Telling Stories with Data.
    1. Available here.
  3. Roberts et al. (2014). Visualization beyond the Desktop--the Next Big Thing.
    1. Available here.
  4. Billger, Thuvander and Wästberg. (2017). In search of visualization challenges: The development and implementation of visualization tools for supporting dialogue in urban planning processes.
    1. Available here.

Further non-mandatory reading:

You are encouraged to look through the Tools and resources module in preparation for the workshops. In particular, it may be helpful to check out the Basic introductions part of the Web technologies resources if you are not already familiar with HTML/CSS/Javascript.

Course design

Theory introduced in lectures will be combined with workshops to introduce tools and technologies and group exercises with accompanying seminars will be used to promote practical experience and discussion. The last part of the course will revolve around a project, initiated in group and finalized individually. 

The grade will depend on the project in combination with a home exam. See below for more details.

Lectures. Slides will be provided after lectures but they will be designed to be presented live and provide material for discussion and explanations at lectures. They will not be designed to be read independently afterwards.

Workshops are guided assignments meant to introduce you to tools and techniques, with instructions for what to do. You are encouraged to work in pairs and help each other as needed. Tutors will be present.

Exercises are independent group work, completing an assignment. All exercises are followed by an associated seminar, discussing the exercise.

Seminars are based around presentation and discussion of student work in groups. Most seminars will be with different parts of the class each hour and your group will be responsible for giving feedback to another group.

The group project should provide a strong basis for the individual project and will be the basis for the project grade.

The individual project will allow for a flexible combination of improving upon the group project with continued development (1) and visual explanation/self-evaluation (2). The first option (1) is optional. The second option (2) is required and entails explaining and evaluating the visualization developed by the group (possibly with individual improvements) by annotating and narrating it.

Formative deadlines correspond to opportunities for feedback. These turn-ins will not affect your grade directly but the corresponding work will be integrated into the final home exam.

Summative deadlines directly affect your final grade either by being required to pass the Assignments or Project module (all seminars) or by adding points to the final Exam (literature exam).

 

Changes made since the last occasion

The most prominent changes from 2018 are:

  • The workshops have been adjusted to reduce the workload
    • Turn-ins changed to be formative examination.
    • You are expected to work in pairs.
    • Better tools will be used in the web technologies part.
  • Spatial visualization and Unreal Engine will be a bigger part.
    • More equal to web technologies.

 

Examination form

The course is examined by means of three modules, namely:

  • Assignments 1.5 credit (fail/pass)
    • Attendance to Seminars, and the corresponding turn-ins (also covers Exercises).
  • Project 2.0 credits ((fail, 3, 4, 5)
    • Largely done in group but finished individually
    • Group deadline: March 06
    • Individual deadline: March 15
  • Home Exam 4.0 credits (fail, 3, 4, 5)
    • Literature Home exam early on, before project work starts
      • Deadline for full points: Feb 07
      • Late submissions can get half the points.
    • Final home exam after project work.
      • Focus on connecting literature to course activities.
      • Includes reflections on assignments and the project.

Home exam deadline: March 22

 

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

Knowledge and understanding 
...explain well-known information visualization techniques, including the pros and cons they have in respect to types of data and contexts
...describe how the cognitive and perceptive abilities of humans affect the possibilities of information visualization

Skills and abilities
...create concepts for information visualizations taking into consideration specific data sets, users, technologies, and use context
...develop visualizations from concepts to functional prototype

Judgement and approach 
...evaluate different interactive visualization techniques to judge their effectiveness and suitability for both generic and specific use
...analyze and provide creative criticism on specific solutions to visualize information

Course description at Chalmers (Länkar till en externa sida.)Länkar till en externa sida..

Course description at the University of Gothenburg. (Länkar till en externa sida.)Länkar till en externa sida.

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